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Volkswagen Karmann Ghia Parts and Design

By: Phoenix Delray

In 1969, the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia was named one of the most beautifully designed cars in the world, and in June of 1972, Car and Driver magazine put it into world class status by comparing it to the Porsche Speedster. The Karmann Ghia today is one of the most highly prized, sought after air cooled engine cars of all time. The graceful, smooth, beautiful design in its parts makes it a timeless classic, and it was the affordable, reliable, and attractive car to drive in its day.

Many people quickly became fans of the Karmann Ghia. Workmanship and design of the car seemed supreme, but there had been some degree of disappointment in the performance of the car. Many people had remarked that it looked like a sports car but it did not behave like one. It had a 36 horsepower flat four engine that was being used in the Beetle at that time, which didnt seem to fit the Karmann Ghia. Volkswagen attempted to convince people to focus on the beauty and design of the car, hoping to dissuade consumers from focusing on the lack of engine power. Sales records for the car would prove that in general, there were many people who were willing to overlook the lack of power in exchange for having a beautiful, affordable lookalike car.

The marketing strategies used were mainly ones of humor; in one commercial, the Karmann Ghia is shown racing towards a giant piece of paper like it was going to rip right through it, but instead the car bounced off of the sheet of paper. Also, in a popular print ad, the Karmann Ghia was shown alongside a Maserati and a Lamborghini, with the explanation that even though the vehicle wasnt as fast, it was a lot cheaper than those other two cars.

Despite the poor performance, in the first year of sales, more than 10,000 were sold. The convertible came out a few years later, and sales went up to an average of 18,000 per year. Karmann Ghia sales increased each year after that until sales peaked in the late 1960s at an average of 33,000 of the cars being sold each year. 1974 was the year that the last Karmann Ghia rolled out of production lines, and Volkswagen introduced the production of the new Scirocco. In total, from 1955 to 1974, there were only about 79,000 convertibles and 366,000 coups that had been produced by Volkswagen, so the Karmann Ghia is comparatively a rare vehicle.

Article Source: http://www.bluearticles.com


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